Sons for the return home by Albert Wendt

After finishing reading the book, my mind was filled with intense emotion that was hard to explain by words. It’s a beautiful love story after all even though the two main characters didn’t have a happy ending at the end. The most important thing here is they had loved each other truly, deeply; madly and with love they overcame all the barriers that prevented two people from different races to love each other. I wish I could be able to experience a love like that, with the affection developed so strongly and genuinely. All the first dates, the trip around the North Island, the mornings they went to deliver mails together. They laughed, talked, kissed, made love with their two hearts full of love and desire for each other and they seemed not to care about what may happen tomorrow. They loved and enjoyed every single day of their time.

However, life is never easy. There’s always something coming up and we could see it right at the beginning of the book. It’s some kind of premonition about their love that it will not end up with a happy ending. Why? Because he’s a Samoan immigrant and she’s a white New Zealand born girl. It sounds like a little problem that is easy to solve but actually it’s not, especially back to the time the book was written, in the 70’s. But “Sons for the return home” is not only about a love relationship. It’s also about a man, growing up, racism, family and so on. The experience spreads out beyond the pages of the books. It’s about racism, not only the racist sentiment the girl’s mother has towards the boy that makes she never accept their marriage but also the attitude of his mother when it comes to their marriage issue. This novel somehow reminds me of the book “L’amant” (The Lover) by the French writer Marguerite Duras, which is about an obsessive haunting love story between an adolescent French girl and her Chinese lover. There are quite a few of similarities between those 2 novels even though they were written in different times, about different people in different contexts. But they’re both about love that blossomed too early to be acknowledged but too late to come to fruition.

Coming to New Zealand at a very young age and growing up as a Samoan boy in a Western society where he was exposed to Western culture and lifestyle when he went to school but still had his family and their traditional way of thinking when he came home, the boy somehow became a complicated person who always had so much thinking in his mind. All the stories his parents told him about their lives back in the island, all the myths he knows about the land he was living in, the Samoan community with his friends and then the school with another kind of friends and people. He became an excellent student at school but at the same time, he didn’t think that it was something to be proud of. He always remembered all the stories about racist people who had treated him and his brother and other immigrants badly in the past and it seemed that he would never forgive them for doing so. However, he would never have thought that later on, he would fall for a white girl and actually he did. And their love is so genuine and passionate that sometimes they felt like they were choked with too much emotion for each other. There’s a sense of exhaustion too as they love each other so much that there’s no other way to express the love they were carrying. He loved her so much that he tried to restrain his anger in front of her friends at the parties, which is quite unusual for a guy like him. He loved her and at the same time, respected and treasured her. Their love is so pure and precious.

After the abortion and she left, he was hurt so badly that “…he couldn’t hold back the pain. He fled into the shadows of an alleyway and wept” and “She had betrayed him. But he still loved her. He was sick with the love he felt for her”. I was really impressed when I reached to this part of the story. I’ve never seen a guy like this before, who had been hurt so badly by his lover that his heart was broken and he could not say or do anything to save it. One special thing about this book, the writer never mentions the names of the two main characters. They are simply called “the boy” and “the girl” or “she” and “he”. They don’t have their personal names, which is quite unusual for a novel. There might just be a coincidence but there might be writer’s intention not to give them particular names as this kind of love story can refer to many other people who had the same situations, who came from different races with different cultural backgrounds and values.

The guy and his family came to New Zealand with only one purpose: Searching for financial security and after that they can return to their homeland and they always longed for this return. His parents taught him Samoan language and culture. They told him not to forget his origin and the reason why they were here and what they expected him to do. However, things didn’t come the way they wanted them to. His dad is a wise sensible man who loves and understands his son so he always supports him with every decision he made but his mom, she remains a traditional Samoan woman who was difficult to change her mind and accept things. And about the girl family, she was always obsessed with her parents’ marriage because they didn’t marry each other out of love but they got married just because her mom got pregnant with her. That’s why she was so confused and frustrated when she found out she was pregnant with his child. There were so many complicated things going on in her mind and I didn’t understand why she decided to have an abortion. It’s because of her fear for her marriage with him that would end up like her parents’ or it’s possibly because she thought that they would never be able to overcome the discrimination against marriage between different races. For whatever reason, I still deeply feel sorry for her. It’s not her fault to be born white and rich. It’s not her fault to fall in love with the guy from a different race. It’s just that the time was wrong and she was too young to make up her mind, to make the right choice. If they were living at this time, they might be happy together, have a happy family and their own children. But back to that time, things were so difficult. And they were so young and desperate. Being loved too much that you are not able to breathe but at the end, you’re still being apart from each other. Who could forget such a thing in their lifetime? It’s so hurtful. It’s so sad.

Sons for the Return Home

Albert Wendt is an acclaimed Samoan-born novelist and poet. Wendt is of German heritage through his great-grandfather from his patrilineal ancestry. This heritage is reflected in a number of his poetry works. Wendt won a scholarship to study in New Zealand in 1952 at New Plymouth Boys High School. After finishing high school Wendt studied at Ardmore Teacher's Collage and then graduated from Victoria University with a Masters degree in History. His Masters' thesis was about the Mau, Samoa's independence movement from colonialism during the early 1900s and was titled Guardian and Wards: A study of the origins, causes and the first two years of the Mau in Western Samoa. Wendt returned home to Samoa in 1965 to teach at Samoa College, and then in 1969 he became the principal of the institution. In 1974 he moved to Suva, Fiji, where he became a lecturer at the University of the South Pacific. He returned home once again in 1977 to set up the University of the South Pacific Centre in Samoa. Wendt took up a professorship of Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, where he taught New Zealand and Pacific literature from 1988 to 2006, becoming one of the first Samoan and Pacific Island professors in New Zealand. Wendt has written several novels, collections of short stories and poetry. Two of his books, Sons for the Return Home and Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree - have both been made into feature films. Leaves of the Banyan Tree, his third novel, won the prestigious New Zealand Wattie Book of the Year Award in 1980. Wendt is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Auckland and continues his writing and painting full-time. He has edited a number of important anthologies and continues to play a major role in fostering and promoting Pacific literature.

Sons for the Return Home is a simple but beautiful story about star-crossed lovers. It spotlights the complex nature of love, freedom, and racism in New Zealand. Written in simple sparse language in 1967 the book follows the journey of a Samoan family that migrate to Wellington, New Zealand in the 1960s.

The two main characters are never actually given names and are referred to as "he" and "she" throughout, "He" is a Samoan and "she" is a Palangi. I think Wendt was looking for objectivity and distance between his characters and by using their relationship as a background, issues of race, racism and cultural identity are effectively explored. While the absence of names works for the novel, it is interesting to note that all characters are given names in the 1978 movie version of Sons for the Return Home. 

The story is full of fascinating relationships. The relationship between the young man and his girlfriend is charged, similar to the relationship between the young man and his mother. In Samoan matriarchal society the mother has the ultimate power. The young male protagonist has a conflicted relationship with her because she wants the best for him, however only on her terms. The young male does not know whether he wants to stay in New Zealand or go somewhere else, whereas the mothers entire plan is that the family make enough money to go back to Samoa rich. For the mother, life in New Zealand is temporary; the family were always planning to return to Samoa with financial security. They do in fact return to Samoa, where, of course they are now foreigners. They have lived in New Zealand for the last ten years. They struggle because of this, to find the connection they thought they had with Samoa.

I think one of the books most important scenes within the novel is the scene in which the protagonist's father sees two crewmen having sex in a lifeboat. To me, it seems like this scene puts a wedge in the fathers mind between the promise land he thought he was coming to and other issues that he has. It highlights the fact that prejudice goes both ways. This is evident later on in the book when the male protagonist goes to meet his girlfriend's parents. When he arrives, he's ready and waiting for their prejudice, however what surprises him, is the fact that his own family are just as prejudice towards her. The books plays with the idea of inners and outers, people who matter and people who don't matter. The young male's mother is extremely prejudiced towards Palangi, She doesn't want them in her family, however at the same time, she wants the legitimacy that having Palangi friends will give them.

I had a lot of compassion for the books main character. Because he drives much of the story, it was hard not to identify with him. The book was written in a very limited perspective and there was not a lot of interior monologue surrounding the protagonist. Wendt has written the story in such a way that the reader is left to guess a lot of his motivations. I think Wendt allows us to assess the interior by what he displays exteriorly in his dialogue and in his actions. Because of this I was able to make assumptions about why he did what he did and why he said what he said. The book was a stark contrast to other novels where the main character is constantly thinking on the page. So often in other novels the main character is telling us how he/she is feeling and what he/she thinks, whereas, Sons for the Return Home required a lot of reader input.

Cross

The poem ‘Cross’ is written by Albert Leomala from Vanuatu, earlier New Hebrides. He went to the University of the South Pacific and is now headmaster at a high school in Vanuatu.

‘Cross’ is about the natives’ emotions towards the colonization and the missionaries that followed. It expresses feelings about the new religion that was introduced, Christianity, and how that affected local traditions. The poem is written with an angry and hurt voice. The writer uses metaphors to make his point. The name of the poem, ‘Cross’, is an example of this, and it’s also repeated several times in the poem. ‘Cross’ is obviously a metaphor for Christianity since it’s the religions symbol. The writer presents his feelings towards the religion and the people who brought it, “Cross I hate you”. He also explains why he feels that way, “you are killing me, you are destroying my traditions”. The claim that the introduction of Christianity destroyed native traditions is supported by the fact that Christianity today is the dominating religion in the area, at the cost of local religions. The language in the area is also an example of the effects of the colonization, since French and English are the official languages of Vanuatu.

In the text the colonizers attitude towards the natives is presented, “you thought I was ignorant, you thought I was primitive, you thought my traditions were disgusting”. This is typical for how the colonists viewed the natives, not only in Vanuatu but in most colonies. One can argue that this is an ideology that supports racial superiority and an ethnocentric worldview. Therefore, one can understand the writers statements about the colonists, “you’re too proud of yourself” and “you were clever, but never thought of my cleverness”. The colonists usually thought of themselves as better than the natives, and when they didn’t understand the natives culture and traditions they labeled it as primitive and barbaric. From this viewpoint, the writers angry attitude in the last paragraph can be understood, “Cross run away, run away from me, I hate you, take your ideas and your civilization, and go back to where you belong.”

Brief 2

Samoan From Foreign Soil
The writer is a reverend named Mua Strickson-Pua, and he was born in Auckland in 1957 to Samoan parents. As a child, he often accompanied his father, who was a pastor, to visit newly arrived Pacific immigrants, dying Pacific patients in hospital or people in jail. As he grew into his teens and early twenties, Mua began a journey of self-discovery to determine where his Pacific roots fitted into urban Aotearoa. Like many other ‘NZ borns’ at the time, he was also becoming aware of political issues. He joined the “Polynesian panthers” and protested loudly at public meetings and gatherings for Maori and Pacific Island human rights, and he was also arrested in 1982 at Waitangi. In the early 1980s he started writing poetry and his poems stretched from romantic notions to urban social justice. In 1990 he was ordained a minister and he eventually moved to Auckland to work at a centre which runs social work and community education courses.

The poem “Samoan from foreign soil” is about being Samoan but born somewhere else and about the challenges that entails. The relationship to the home country is central, and the journey to Samoa is the most important theme. Topics such as migration, ancestry and colonization are also mentioned directly or indirectly in the poem. Tradition, heritage, respecting their elders and links to the land is presented in the poem as important for the Samoans. The question of what and where’s home is essential in the poem, the writer answers this question by stating: “home is where the heart is” and “our heart is in Samoa”.
The poem is written with a romantic voice, and presents a romantic perspective of Samoa. It takes up issues about where you belong and how that affects your identity. One can argue that it describes longing for a Samoan identity, which may be achieved by “making the pilgrimage back to Samoa”. In doing this you can go through a transformation of self-realization, thereby “making peace with oneself”.

Compared to “Wild Dogs Under My Skirt”:
“Wild Dogs Under My Skirt” is written with a more angry and aggressive voice: “I want to tattoo my legs. Not blue or green but black”, he says he wants to know that the tufuga means him pain, “I want him to bring out his chisel and hammer” and “I want my legs as sharp as dogs’ teeth”. While in “Samoan From Foreign Soil” the writer uses calmer language talking about “home”, “heart” and “peace”. It can be argued that the tattoo represents change, and that doing the tattoo can be described as a journey or a transformation. It’s a different journey then in “Samoan from foreign soil”, but it may represent some of the same things, such as the search for an identity, in this case a Samoan identity. They take different approaches, but want to achieve the same, primarily to find their place or home in the world, in other words their identity.
Both poems make indirect references to the colonization, which is natural since it had, and still has, such a massive impact on the area. Their feelings towards the colonizers may be similar, but the voice is again different. “Samoan from foreign soil” refers to the colonial era in this way “memories tainted by those challenges from the past” (I interpret ‘challenges’ as being a reference to the colonial period), while in the “Wild Dogs Under My Skirt” it is stated that he want ”wild Samoan dogs, the mangy kind that bite strangers” (‘strangers’ are probably referring to the colonizers). Both poems gives the impression of being upset that they’ve been mistreated, but the voice in “Samoan from foreign soil” sounds hurt, while the voice in “Wild Dogs Under My Skirt” sounds angry.

A Book and a Pen

The poem ‘A Book and a Pen’ is written by Vaine Rasmussen, who was born in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in 1961. He is educated in the Cook Islands, he has published a collection of poems and short stories, and he is now an economist in New Caledonia.

The plot of the poem is about, what we can assume is, a pacific man getting a western education. It expresses how he feels about the education, and if it’s relevant to his life. He implies that his own culture and identity is threatened by the western education he received and that the degrees he got doesn’t mean anything to him. The poem is written with a sarcastic voice, in the first paragraph when he talks about receiving school supplies, “a book and a pen”, and his high school degree which he describes as “a piece of paper”. In the second paragraph he uses the same sarcastic sentences when describing his equipment and his university degree. In this part he also refers to some famous revolutionists, Marx and Solzhenitsyn, he learned about at the university. It could be because he agrees with their theories, which is implied in the poem when he states about their literature: “to debate, discuss and agree over”. Marx was against social oppression of the working class and Solzhenitsyn was a critic against the gulag and forced labor camps in communist Russia. Rasmussen may relate to this because of the colonists oppression of the indigenous people in the Cook Islands.

In the third paragraph he states that he got a job, and he repeats the phrase about a book and a pen. This recurring quote could be a metaphor for western education and society, and how it doesn’t reflect his roots from the Cook Islands. He always had to use a book and pen, both during his education and in his work life. That’s maybe not what he wanted to do in life and it doesn’t represent his true culture and identity. The last sentence in the third paragraph he mentions a dance from the Cook Islands called Tamure, and a Tumunu which is where local men gather to drink their home brew in a ceremonial ritual. This suggests that he misses the traditions from the Cook Islands, and that he would like to take part in them.

The last paragraph is written in a hurt and mourning voice. It’s about him growing old and realising that he lost some of his original culture. He refers to a pe’e, which is a song from the Cook Islands. He talks about the language he don’t speak, and the culture he doesn’t know well. It expresses his feelings about not being familiar with the culture of his ancestors. One can also argue that he found his identity at last, maybe too late, in his heritage from the Cook Islands. This fills him with regret because he spent most of his life taking a western education and working in a “western” job. The writer supports this claim when he writes in the last sentence “and I grew up at last, realising I missed a lot”.

Seminar

My group had chosen poems "Kidnapped" and "A Book And A Pen" for our seminar. Both poems are having the theme of criticizing the colonisers trying to assimilate the islander student from education.  Those colonisers changed their education system, taught them European culture and history rather than their own islands' culture and history. This is to serve the political purpose that European colonisers wanting to rule those islanders from inside as well as outside.

 Me and my ancestors do not have similar experience because although China was invaded by Europeans and Japanese before, China has never been taken and ruled over by them, so our education system was never changed by invaders. But I can still see how cruel this is, being forced to learn a culture and language that belong to the enemy of your country. If Japan won the war over China, then all Chinese start learning Japanese and Japanese history, I think we will be very angry about it. When I first read the poem "Kidnapped", I feel the title is too strong and harsh, but to think deeper about it, I think this is the right word to express the angry, despair feeling of the author.

I like Pacific culture, yesterday I watched a youtube clip of Pacific dance, that is so beautiful. I don't really understand pacific culture, but from what I learnt so far, they are a very primitive, loving god and nature and living simple, happy lives. I like their flower necklace, I like their traditional singing, I like the sea shell and I like their canoe. So I can understand that in the poem "A Book And A Pen", the character is moaning about himself missing out so much about his own Pacific culture.He should learn it at young age, but instead he only get to access it at old age, finally he find his culture, his identity, his true pleasure, but he had so many years of confusion, and those years, nobody can pay him back.

I am glad that both characters are released at the end of the poem, because they love their culture so much, I think they will go and seek it immediately. Just like a bird, being shut in a cage for long, one day it is released, it will fly so high and so far away. Just like those two released characters, I can imagine them singing their traditional songs with their fellow islanders in the beach, their beautiful voice fly across the whole Pacific ocean.

For Ida

This poem is very touching, I can feel the deep love towards Samoan land and Samoan culture in it. I think this is the story about a Samoan woman called Ida, who immigrated to New Zealand to seek a better life. But like many other overstayers, she was forced out of New Zealand in the dawn raids in the 1970s. She then kept her son grow up in Samoa and stay in Samoa, to let her son enjoy the friendly environment of the homecountry, living a happy life.

"The gull circles/and nest/and our sense of selves/rests" The author is expressing the happy, peaceful feeling of one finally find one's identity, after lots of searchings. Here she means that the sense of selves, in other words, one's identity, is resting on one's home, rather than anywhere alse. The gull circles, fly away from home and comes back home. This home, for Ida and her son, is Samoa. I totally agree with the author, I also think that each person need to have an identity, this identity can only be developed when you are at your homecoutry.

I don't think a person can have two cultures. One can have his/her own culture, and experience, appreciate another one. But one cannot have two cultures, it is just like people only have one head, one heart. I have stayed in New Zealand for six years by now. I don't feel that I know much about New Zealand culture, instead, I know so much more Chinese culture then six years ago. My body is surrounded by kiwi culture, but my heart is surrounded by Chinese culture, I have to listen to my heart.

I kept on finding informations about Chinese culture on net those years I stayed in New Zealand, I can only find them on net because New Zealand is a society with kiwi culture. I used to tell myself that I need to go and study the kiwi culture, but then I failed to do that, because I am not happy, I feel so confused about myself. But when I look up on net about Chinese culture, those information give me pleasure and comfort, and energy. I can hear my ancestors' voices, those "humble" men and women, their voice also flying across the ocean.

I wish one day I can find a good job in China and live a happy life there. I know that I am also a seed, a Chinese seed.